A Former NASA Engineer Set a New World Record With His Domino-Laying Robot

Many robots have been designed for highly-specific tasks, from shampooing hair to shooting billiards. The domino-arranging gadget in the video below is another example of a robot capable of doing one thing—and doing that one thing really well.

As Nerdist reports, this record-breaking robot is the creation of NASA engineer Mark Rober. Rober's YouTube channel is filled with videos of him applying his science expertise to creative challenges. For this project, he designed a robot to lay down as many dominos as possible as quickly as possible. He enlisted three engineering students to help him with the effort.

Using funnels and Connect Four-style slots, the robot (nicknamed Dom) is able to set 300 dominos on the ground at once. A predetermined route programmed into the software allows the robot to navigate its space like a Roomba vacuum. When put to the test, Dom lays down 102,600 dominos in 24 hours—a Guinness World Record-breaking feat.

To show off just how impressive the technology is, Rober put his bot head-to-head with YouTube star Lily Hevesh. Hevesh is known for assembling intricate domino chains, but even she was no match for the machine. Though she couldn't conquer Dom with just two hands, the creativity of her domino art is still hard to beat.

You can watch the work that went into the robot, and the satisfying results, in the video below.

[h/t Nerdist]